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Well, I am 56 and just sat back down at the wheel two years ago after a 35 year absence. I still work at a full-time job and spend my nights and weekends in the studios or at art fairs. Since I came to this in a backwards way...being that it will be my full-time profession once I retire...I don't envision retiring from it until I can no longer lift a ball of clay. It has changed my life...in a VERY good way...and I ain't a goin' back! Live fully...live centered my friends

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I turn 77 this year. I intend to keep playing in the mud forever. Yes, infirmities arise as you age, but just scale back the size of what you produce. Maybe production pottery slows down a bit. I center smaller amounts of clay and never construct anything that I can't move without help. I do more with underglazes and majolica now.

I refuse to believe Robin Hopper has quit ceramics. Why would anyone stop doing something that brings so much joy? I agree with john--I AM a potter.

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When I physically can no longer make anything for my smallest kiln that is 6"x6 I'll quit, but I have a backup plan. I have been growing a drying gourds of all different sizes and shapes they remind me of pots, I'm hoping I'll be able to drill, paint or stain them if I get disabled with my MS and unable to work with clay anymore. I think I would go out of my mind just sitting around watching television all day long, but right now I'm well. Denice

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Chatting with friends a while ago ... They were reflecting on their jobs and how it was not healthy to confuse who you were with what you did for a living etc ..... Ooops! Needless to say I kept quiet since I am what I do and hope to always be a potter. I think of it as being incredibly lucky.

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Chatting with friends a while ago ... They were reflecting on their jobs and how it was not healthy to confuse who you were with what you did for a living etc ..... Ooops! Needless to say I kept quiet since I am what I do and hope to always be a potter. I think of it as being incredibly lucky.

I am an artist and a creative thinker. While I adore making ceramic art, I know my physical abilities will eventually keep me from working on anything large scale. I will always be creative though (unless I have some sort of brain event that changes me) so I'll write, or paint, or draw or whatever I need to do to fill the craving to create.

I visited Robin at his shop at Christmas. While he may not be actively potting, he is doing some great tiles with a new technique. It is still very much ceramic based.

On this trip, I also visited Walter Dexter. He too is still potting in his 80's. Great work too. He has gone from what I would call functional pieces to sculpture. Beautiful work.

In both cases, these artists have adapted to something new. Maybe that is part of the secret of staying in it. Finding a new niche that works for you.

I hope, like both of these successful artists that I too will be potting. But again, mine is a hobby. It is not a full-time job.

I think what this question leads to is what are the requirements needed to be a potter as we age. Part of it is, without a doubt the sheer physical strength needed to say pick up a box of clay or wedge at length or for those of you who make clay, pugging the stuff. It can be physically exhausting and injurious. But again, my comments are spoken from the position of someone who is a hobby potter not a full-time one.

I visited Robin at his shop at Christmas. While he may not be actively potting, he is doing some great tiles with a new technique. It is still very much ceramic based.

On this trip, I also visited Walter Dexter. He too is still potting in his 80's. Great work too. He has gone from what I would call functional pieces to sculpture. Beautiful work.

In both cases, these artists have adapted to something new. Maybe that is part of the secret of staying in it. Finding a new niche that works for you.

I hope, like both of these successful artists that I too will be potting. But again, mine is a hobby. It is not a full-time job.

I think what this question leads to is what are the requirements needed to be a potter as we age. Part of it is, without a doubt the sheer physical strength needed to say pick up a box of clay or wedge at length or for those of you who make clay, pugging the stuff. It can be physically exhausting and injurious. But again, my comments are spoken from the position of someone who is a hobby potter not a full-time one.

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I just turned 59 in July. Been making pots for 36 years. No one ever asks me if I'm still making pots. This is who I am and what I do. I might retire from the day job of teaching high school art in two years, but I'll never give up the studio.

A potter buddy of mine switched to water colours and is on me to do some painting, which I am going to try, but my main thing is functional pottery.

TJR.

My only worry is what do I do with the 35 buckets of glaze that I have hanging around the studio. Also all those glaze materials.I am out of Custer Feldspar. Do I buy the bag or just 5 kilos? How long do I have?